OATMEAL PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

In the tough times when you want to come back to the states, remember back to January, February, March, all those months where God was pressing in your heart to do something radical for Him.

My friends really speak the truth.

Reality check: I have been a bit of a Johnny Raincloud lately.

On the blog, a little. (This came to my attention after I read through a few of my most recent posts and realized they were all stories about my stinky-fish-market-dirty-jeepney-oppressively-hot life in the Philippines. O, woe is me.)

In real life, even more. I have been feeling sick + I long for the comforts of home + I miss my family and friends. Woe is me again.

This whole Philippines thing is a big adjustment, and some of these yucky feelings are normal. Yes. Absolutely.

But I have so many reasons to be thankful. I have enough money to take a taxi whenever I don’t feel like walking. A fridge full of fresh, healthy food. A constant clean water supply. An embarrassing number of shoes to choose from each morning. I wonder what the man on our corner who sleeps on a piece of wood would say if he lived my life for a day. And I mean my “Filipino” life.

I guess I could start with being thankful that I even had the choice to come here in the first place.

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 1⁄2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 oz semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS :

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. Beat sugars, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition. Stir in chopped chocolate.
5. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2″ apart, onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned.
6. Cool 1 minute; remove from baking sheets to wire racks. cool completely.